Duration of Psion Powers

[PsiTraveller]

I am Skyping with a person trying to create a Psion rogue. They have never played before and they have stumped me with a question.
How long does Read thoughts or Send thoughts last? And what does the time descriptor mean in the Cost line of the power description?

Send Thoughts: Telepathy, Psionic Strength, 10-60 seconds, Difficult (–2).
Costs 2+Range.

Does the 10-60 seconds mean the prep time to use the power, the duration of the power?

Enhanced Awareness has: Awareness, Psionic Strength, 1-6 seconds, Average (+0). Costs 1.

Yet it lasts until you fail a roll or you go to sleep, so could last all day.

How long can you read thoughts, or send them?

Clairvoyance has the duration as rounds of Effect, so Clairvoyance is only going to last up to 30 seconds if you box-carred your Skill Check. Most of the time it will likely last 6 - 12 seconds. Not a lot of time to get much information. Or hear much with clairaudience or clairsentience.

Maybe I am missing something here. Maybe my understanding of the time is off. Could someone walk me through it?

 

[Shonner]

Just like with other skills, it takes that long to do the psionic task. A lot of referees use time or effect. But not both. Rounds fall to the wayside with advanced referees, who will then use both time and effect and keep the game's pace in real-time instead of turn-based.

 

[CosmicGamer]

I had always assumed the "only active, current thoughts" for read surface thoughts meant it was just a quick snapshot. Send thoughts is "Complementary to the ability to read surface thoughts" and would have similar duration.

Then I was going to answer regarding the task timing being prep time vs duration and say

First, off, yes, the 10-60 seconds is the time to summon up your psi energy and activate the talent.

One way to look at it is one could make the task easier by taking their time, increasing the time increment to 1-6 minutes. It makes no sense that the easier task provides 1-6 minutes of duration while the normal one is 10-60 seconds. The longer it lasts the more difficult it should be, no?​

But as I started looking into it further and I had a OMG moment. Then I remembered a discussion I had in the past where it had come up, somewhat, not specifically about psionics. Let me step you through some things.

I started thinking about other skills, like Admin,

Avoiding close examination of papers: Education or Social Standing, 10–60 seconds, Average (+0).
Dealing with police harassment: Education or Social Standing, 10–60 minutes, Diffi cult (–2).​

Does it take 10–60 minutes to prepare for dealing with police harassment? No, it is 10–60 of dealing with the police to successfully avoid harassment.
Go faster and it's harder, but you deal with the harassing police and move on quicker.

Then there is Drive that has things like

Precisely controlling a dig to expose a vein of minerals: Dexterity, 10–60 minutes, Difficult (–2).
Driving a tank into a cargo bay: Dexterity, 10–60 seconds, Average (+0)​

So duration, or how long the task takes to complete is part of the task.

But that brings us right back to

one could make the task easier by taking their time, increasing the time increment to 1-6 minutes. It makes no sense that the easier task provides 1-6 minutes of duration while the normal one is 10-60 seconds. The longer it lasts the more difficult it should be, no?​

Something doesn't seam right. But we have those examples of other skills that list duration. What does this imply? Perhaps: If the skill itself describes a duration, this supersedes the timing duration.

And in your case, the skill does not give a length of time but says "only active, current thoughts" for read surface thoughts, which to me, is best interpreted as it is instantaneous once one has finished drawing upon their psionic strength to use their talent.

Keep in mind the tasks in the book are just examples. Just about anything can happen. The GM creates the tasks based on characters actions and player input. A gambler may be playing blackjack. A driver of a motorcycle may be trying to do a wheelie.

So it is totally up to you. If the player wants to send a series of thoughts that might take 30 seconds, you can set up a task that is more difficult and/or costs more.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Well IMTU I think I will add in an extended duration of a minute for an extra point once the power is started. Add in range costs and it will allow a Clairvoyant to look around a room and listen to a conversation.

Thinking back to the Death of Wisdom TNE book there was a psionic conversation during a meeting. A fair number of words were exchanged. I am going to go find my copy of the book and figure out what that would have cost at 6 seconds a point.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

I may be misremembering...

Well IMTU I think I will add in an extended duration of a minute for an extra point once the power is started. Add in range costs and it will allow a Clairvoyant to look around a room and listen to a conversation.

Thinking back to the Death of Wisdom TNE book there was a psionic conversation during a meeting. A fair number of words were exchanged. I am going to go find my copy of the book and figure out what that would have cost at 6 seconds a point.

Don't recall where I picked up, but I seem to recall that 6 seconds is around 10 words or about 50 characters (letters or numbers). So, good for quick bursts of info, but expensive to have a conversation.

Me, I figure use the duration given and if they keep concentrating they can keep "listening/speaking" without much outlay in points, but I am pro-psionic. Also, not rules or anything official but I tend to be more lenient if the Operator and Target know each other. It is far easier to read a friend's mind than a stranger's, you already have a long association and familiarity with how your friend thinks.

Again, I will note, not a Mongoose Ref, but I did do CT and years of GMing so not a complete noob in these matters.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Well I was reading the Adcanced Talents section and came across the Advanced Talent Projection. -2 Learning DM, but if you can learn it all your problems are over when it comes to spying. Out of Body Experience. 30 minutes +15 minutes per Psi Strength + DM. Cost is 2 points + range with +0 Difficulty

So send in your invisible psyche and read over all the shoulders you like for 30 minutes. It is a lot better than 12-30 seconds. Costs fewer points and is easier than ClairSentience.